I plan to positively impact the world through my selected current field of study because I want to make a difference in people's lives. As a future orthodontist, one of my goals is to develop a network of dental establishments in various states. These dental facilities, throughout the year, will provide oral healthcare, educational programs, and dental care for individuals without insurance or low income. I have always wanted to create a program to help people maintain proper dental care because it is vital for their overall well-being. I know from personal experience the impact oral healthcare can have on the body. I have two close family members that suffered from bacterial diseases located in their gums which caused halitosis, facial and bodily swelling, fevers, chills, and aches. Initially, we sent them both to the emergency room for care. With the help of professional dental offices in our area, they could get the proper treatment to heal their gums and are now better educated on the necessary precautions. That is why I want to be able to educate my patients, utilizing a program to ensure better physical and mental healthcare. I want to be as impactful in my patients' lives as to see them smile and be proud of their oral healthcare. I hope to finish my college journey in the upcoming years and work with locals in my community to develop a solid educational program people can utilize worldwide for people looking to better their overall health, starting with proper oral care. I believe I have been put on earth with a purpose and a plan; therefore, I will fulfill my destiny with all my strength, gifts, and abilities. I can not offer an individual a million dollars and make all of their problems go away, but I know one thing I can do is be of service to others. When my community came to my family's rescue, they enlightened me on what absolute community service was all about. Their unselfish acts of kindness and generosity motivated me to serve and help others in need. It is important to remember where you come from and never judge others based on their life experiences or appearance. We all have a purpose, goal, and vision, and often we need help achieving them. We must understand our purpose on earth is to assist and encourage one another. The end goal of pursuing my career is to give back to my community and help people have a wonderful smile.

Studying is a critical tactic for success, building confidence with the material, and an extreme anxiety and stress reducer. It is essential to implement techniques to gain new knowledge as a college student. During my first year of college, I discovered that my study methods were ineffective. I could study all day using practice exams and study guides, but initially, it was not enough. As a result, my lack of structure led me to fail multiple exams. It was devastating to fail, knowing how many hours I would spend reading over the material. I deciphered through different structural methods such as group and individual tutoring, speaking with professors, and finding different study locations with fewer distractions. As I had the urge to ensure I was knowledgeable, an ultimate idea came to mind. I labeled this helpful method S.I.O, which represents the phrase, “Spit It Out.” Using S.I.O. is a way an individual can evaluate how much of the information they may know and reflect on areas that need more attention. I use this method by obtaining a whiteboard and labeling the specific topics for the chapter. After labeling the topics, a timer is set for 10 minutes, and I begin to spout out all of the information I know out onto the board. After ten minutes, I evaluate what I know and what information I may have missed. I take what I observed from this exercise and prepare more on those topics. The impact of this method helped me achieve the educational goals I desired, and my peers began to instill this method into their educational journey. It is excellent to know how S.I.O can help students, and hopefully, more students will take this creative phrase and use it to achieve success.

The film “The Heart of the Game” showed me how it takes heart to get where you want to be in life. Achieving our goals will not always be easy. Some may say it takes literal blood, sweat, and tears, but it also takes strong will and compassion. The question is, how do I show “heart” in my life and my future educational plans. I show my heart in my life by giving the best that I have in every opportunity. If there is ever a chance to help out or give back to the community, I will do it. As though I want for myself, I also pray and ask God to help others as well. My heart is giving back to my community and showing the people in my town that I care. I am pursuing “heart” in my educational plans by getting my bachelor’s degree in Biology in three years. I believe it is vital to aim for the stars because one day I may reach them. While watching the film, I was able to see a lot of myself in Darnellia Russell because of her strength and willingness to go after what she wanted. Also, it seems life is getting in the way and trying to hold her back; I can relate. I mean that I am an all-around student, honor graduate, and participated in the dual enrollment program. A golfer and I participated in many school organizations holding a leadership role and volunteering at a local food bank. Also, I was accepted into 16 colleges. All of this sounds great, especially when the offers come back to back. I was anticipating college to pay me and not have a single ounce of debt. During this time, I was excited about all of the opportunities coming forward in my life, but I also did not know what to do because my financial situation changed. As a result of the global pandemic, my father lost his job, so my dreams of attending college slowly started to decline. My father is my family’s primary source of income, so although I was excited, it seemed that no matter how hard I tried, life just kept getting in the way. I continued to have ups and downs and slowly lost hope and faith, but my team came to support me. By team, I mean my mother and grandmother, similar to Coach Risler. They inspired me, gave me words of wisdom, and showed me how to be confident and walk in my purpose. Life can be challenging, but I have not entirely given up on my dream of becoming a future dentist. I want to open my dentist office to people who may not afford dental care to treat their teeth. I am very grateful for my family because they believe in me, just like Coach Risler. Attending college to get a higher education is the only thing on my mind because I want to make a difference. I also want to show people if I made it through obstacles in my life and still pursued my dream, so can they. The Roughriders showed me that I have to go out and fight what I want. I enjoyed the life lessons that this film presented, and it showed the hardships women face daily. I will be attending Clemson University because I strived for what I believed in. I had to first put belief in myself and understand I can do all things if I put my mind to it.

My grandfather inspired me to be different and to think outside of the box. Although he enjoyed playing golf, he was never allowed to play at the golf courses because it was primarily for country club members. This rule was put into place initially because they knew that most black people could not afford the membership fees and equipment. To practice, he would have to go to an open lot behind a schoolyard to teach himself how to play. Golf is usually seen as a privileged past-time of the upper class in our society, so generally wealthy white people. Golf is not usually the first choice for sports for black people, and the only person we can relate to in this sport is Tiger Woods. He has experienced much more adversity than I in this sport. I am aware that I do not fit into the stereotypical image of a golfer. I am a five-foot-nine young, African-American female, and I am not white, skinny, or have blue or green eyes. There is an immense amount of stereotypes surrounding the way the world views blacks. All black people do not enjoy basketball and football, and all blacks are not ignorant and lazy, regardless of the perception we may convey. I play golf because I was inspired to do so, and I genuinely love the sport. Our school has a golf team, so we always treat one with respect when we play other teams. On this particular day, I did not get greeted as I usually do when playing other teams. The etiquette before you play is to approach your opponent, shake their hand, and exchange names and scorecards. This day started a little different, and to my surprise, the two white female golfers did not ask for my name, nor did they want to exchange scorecards. We have never played this team before, and we had to travel to their course, which was about 6,000 yards of turf. Once we were sent off to our starting holes, the two girls began to forge ahead as if I was not playing with them. So to not despond, I just tried to keep up with them not to be too far behind. They would not talk to me, and I was wondering why. I was attempting to create a conversation with them so that the hours we had to spend together would not be dull. Every time I asked a question or asked for advice, I was looked at as if I just got off the wrong bus. I have felt like I was not accepted somewhere before, but this day the two girls made me feel like I should not have come. I wanted to remain positive, so I just told myself that I would walk alone and try to make the best out of the situation. In my six years of playing golf, I have never been treated this way, nor have I ever wanted to leave because of anything other than golf itself. At my current age, I understand that I will have many more experiences such as this one; but I refuse to let them discourage me and the goals that I have set for my life. I will continue to overcome and be kind to people because we are unaware of what people have experienced in their lifetimes.